I want to buy one this spring and have been asking the question myself. It is just me and my wife. Have a couple of smokers and grills.

But knowing my personality if I buy the 18 I will be wondering if I should have bought the 22.

I'm tempted by the 22, but merely so I can put a full rack of babybacks on it without futzing around. BUT, my wife and I are now empty nesters and she doesn't eat red meat ...when I make ribs, or pork, or ham, or brisket etc ...I'm the only one eating it (dinner and lunches at work). Chicken (and poultry sausages) are the only thing that she eats out of the smoker ....and loves that stuff, but for 50% of my smokes, I'm only feeding a single person. The other half of the time, only 2 people. Once in a blue moon, we may have another couple over for dinner. Even though I may have to cut a rack of ribs in two (or futz with them and put them over a foil-covered brick or pipe or something), the 18.5 still has the capacity to blow us out of the water... and is big enough to make it easy to run, unlike the little (finicky?) 14. So ...I can't justify the bigger size or the higher rate of charcoal usage for us. If I bought a 22, I'd buy the charcoal bin/gizmo for an 18 and would put it into the 22. I like keeping all components engineered to work together, together. Another factor, and perhaps the deciding factor for me, is that I can buy the 18.5 at any of several shops in town ...and for prices that are as cheap as Amazon (even with free shipping) ...the 22 would have to be shipped. I like being able to check out the box before I buy, and having a local company to go to if something's mucked up... with Weber's great support as the back-up.

So, there ya have it... empty nesters who don't need a lot of capacity in their smoker. If my wife ate red meat and/or we had other mouths to feed, then I wouldn't hesitate to get the 22. Can't go wrong either way.

I want to buy one this spring and have been asking the question myself. It is just me and my wife. Have a couple of smokers and grills.

But knowing my personality if I buy the 18 I will be wondering if I should have bought the 22.

You can always cook less on a 22. , but you can't get more on an 18 if you need. Figure how many time you BBQ for friends. I only have my MES and a small 18 Masterbuilt kettle that was just given to me, will probably up grade later. It is only the Wife and I at home

You can always cook less on a 22. , but you can't get more on an 18 if you need. Figure how many time you BBQ for friends. I only have my MES and a small 18 Masterbuilt kettle that was just given to me, will probably up grade later. It is only the Wife and I at home

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THOUGHT ABOUT THAT A LOT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My wife and I are fairly private, not into the whole socializing thing. Couple of friends from church come over about 4X per year and that's about it ... If the 18's not big enough for something, then I'll whip out the kettle and throw some more meat into that! I can manage to run it low and slow at 225 F as well ...just more of a hassle to keep it going for a long time. Fast and Hot grilled chicken will 2nd anything from the WSM anytime too... :)

You should tell her about Pork, the other white meat. Hahahaha.....Kidding aside you would be surprised what you can fit in a mini. My next non homemade smoker may be the WSM 14.5. If I don't just build a Weber mini myself. If you are slightly handy you could easily make yourself a UDS Brian. Even less futzing around than a WSM and you could build two for what a 18 incher would cost you. Have you tried the baskets out yet. I literally smoke almost all my meals on the Kettle just because it works so darn good. I too am usually just cooking for me but I also like to do large batches of certain things to freeze for single meals later. I love my UDS.

You should tell her about Pork, the other white meat. Hahahaha.....Kidding aside you would be surprised what you can fit in a mini. My next non homemade smoker may be the WSM 14.5. If I don't just build a Weber mini myself. If you are slightly handy you could easily make yourself a UDS Brian. Even less futzing around than a WSM and you could build two for what a 18 incher would cost you. Have you tried the baskets out yet. I literally smoke almost all my meals on the Kettle just because it works so darn good. I too am usually just cooking for me but I also like to do large batches of certain things to freeze for single meals later. I love my UDS.

Shhhhhhhhh... She also anti-salt. But if I sneak a wee bit of bacon or pork into something, or a smidgen of salt ...she says "Oooo! That's GOOOOOD!". It's my little joke on her ....there is no health reason for her not to eat the good stuff, just a personal thing. For some reason, killing 50 chickens a year means less to her than killing one cow... LOL... (I know ...I know ...I'm a baaaaad bad huzzbinnnnn.....)

Thought about an UDS, but can get a WSM put together quicker :). Plus, the UDS is bigger...

They are very very efficient. The design is such that only the bare essential amount of charcoal and wood that is needed for the cook is burnt. Even with such a large chamber I use no more charcoal than I would in my Kettle. That is not to say that the WSM's are not extremely efficient too but the UDS is nearly perfect in that it seals up very well. If you have the extra money go ahead and get the WSM and I am sure you will never regret it. My line of thinking is 20 bags of charcoal + cost of all the parts = the price of the WSM. Or like 5 huge briskets.... you get my point. I am a frugal dude though.That being a nice way of putting it. lol

You make some very good and compelling arguments for the UDS. The money's not a big deal for us, and not creating new projects for myself (I have too many as it is) is important to me. We have a secondary business that more or less develops passive income for us, but only about $2500/years and it's pretty hit-n-miss. Too unreliable to count on for any particular goal, my wife and I utilize it for 'little life enhancements' along the way ...mid-winter trip to Hawaii to escape the Alaska cold, or buying fun stuff that we'd rather not impact the family budget with ...like stuff for hunting and fishing, gun and shooting stuff, or ...even a new WSM and all the little mods that can go with it. As for time, it's very quick to put together and get going... the mods too (seal kit and Cajun Bandit door).

Well, I have the 18.5 WSM with a rotisserie on top, and put a grill in the rotisserie....on Christmas Day had seven full loin back racks of ribs and one 10 pound ham on the rotisserie rack. The ribs were on two rib vertical holders with the ends bent around and the ends of three racks stagger cuts to get to the the weber wall. These took up the normal grills in the wsm. Also, had Auber tempcontroller to control the temp-235 for 3+ hours and 245 for 1.5 hours and foiled and glazed one hour. Should have taken a couple photos but didn't. Everything turned out on time and great. Also, cut a rectangular hole in the bottom beside one of the vents to put the auber fan in, instead of the vent as shown with the auber instructions. the rectangular hole is the same size as the outlet of the auber fan. No water in pan but some granite stone for heat sink and an old skillet on top of the stone to catch the drippings....water pan doubled foiled. Run four thermometers for monitoring. Sorry for the long winded post but tried to answer questions.

I'm tempted by the 22, but merely so I can put a full rack of babybacks on it without futzing around. BUT, my wife and I are now empty nesters and she doesn't eat red meat ...when I make ribs, or pork, or ham, or brisket etc ...I'm the only one eating it (dinner and lunches at work). Chicken (and poultry sausages) are the only thing that she eats out of the smoker ....and loves that stuff, but for 50% of my smokes, I'm only feeding a single person. The other half of the time, only 2 people. Once in a blue moon, we may have another couple over for dinner. Even though I may have to cut a rack of ribs in two (or futz with them and put them over a foil-covered brick or pipe or something), the 18.5 still has the capacity to blow us out of the water... and is big enough to make it easy to run, unlike the little (finicky?) 14. So ...I can't justify the bigger size or the higher rate of charcoal usage for us. If I bought a 22, I'd buy the charcoal bin/gizmo for an 18 and would put it into the 22. I like keeping all components engineered to work together, together. Another factor, and perhaps the deciding factor for me, is that I can buy the 18.5 at any of several shops in town ...and for prices that are as cheap as Amazon (even with free shipping) ...the 22 would have to be shipped. I like being able to check out the box before I buy, and having a local company to go to if something's mucked up... with Weber's great support as the back-up.

So, there ya have it... empty nesters who don't need a lot of capacity in their smoker. If my wife ate red meat and/or we had other mouths to feed, then I wouldn't hesitate to get the 22. Can't go wrong either way.

Brian

My usual answer would be "get the 22.5" but after reading your post above and some of the subsequent ones, I think the 18.5 is more than enough for you. heck i would argue the 14.5 might be just fine but I would like the little bit of extra room the 18.5 would give you.

my opinion is get the 18.5 and it will be all you would ever need it sounds like.

I'm tempted by the 22, but merely so I can put a full rack of babybacks on it without futzing around. BUT, my wife and I are now empty nesters and she doesn't eat red meat ...when I make ribs, or pork, or ham, or brisket etc ...I'm the only one eating it (dinner and lunches at work). Chicken (and poultry sausages) are the only thing that she eats out of the smoker ....and loves that stuff, but for 50% of my smokes, I'm only feeding a single person. The other half of the time, only 2 people. Once in a blue moon, we may have another couple over for dinner. Even though I may have to cut a rack of ribs in two (or futz with them and put them over a foil-covered brick or pipe or something), the 18.5 still has the capacity to blow us out of the water... and is big enough to make it easy to run, unlike the little (finicky?) 14. So ...I can't justify the bigger size or the higher rate of charcoal usage for us. If I bought a 22, I'd buy the charcoal bin/gizmo for an 18 and would put it into the 22. I like keeping all components engineered to work together, together. Another factor, and perhaps the deciding factor for me, is that I can buy the 18.5 at any of several shops in town ...and for prices that are as cheap as Amazon (even with free shipping) ...the 22 would have to be shipped. I like being able to check out the box before I buy, and having a local company to go to if something's mucked up... with Weber's great support as the back-up.

So, there ya have it... empty nesters who don't need a lot of capacity in their smoker. If my wife ate red meat and/or we had other mouths to feed, then I wouldn't hesitate to get the 22. Can't go wrong either way.

Brian

My usual answer would be "get the 22.5" but after reading your post above and some of the subsequent ones, I think the 18.5 is more than enough for you. heck i would argue the 14.5 might be just fine but I would like the little bit of extra room the 18.5 would give you.

my opinion is get the 18.5 and it will be all you would ever need it sounds like.

That was my usual answer as well ...I changed it later, after thinking about it more ...noting that being able to get one locally was also high on my list, and nobody in Alaska sells 22s that I know of.

Brian, In mho I think the 18.5 wsm will do everything you want to do. I bought the rotisserie ring and motor from Cajun bandit and just put four grill brackets on the top and now have 3-18 inch grills if I need them. Also, love the rotisserie for "the other white meat" , boneless hams, and various roast, loins etc. I fill the holes for the rotisserie rod and motor up with a small aluminum plates, bolt and wing nut....not smoke leakage there.